Priveledged to join His Beatitude on a four day solidarity visit to Gaza. Day 1 included a visit to the Latin Patriarchate School at Zeitoun, Daughters of Charity special needs home, Rosary Sosters School and a meeting with the beneficiaries of the job creation program employing over 70 youth. The damages to buildings is bad, but the worst part is to listen to the human stories…. The plea of everyone is that these cycles must stop and the people of Gaza deserve to be treated like other humans anywhere else on earth with dignity. Keep praying for Gaza and its people.

Despite all the misery of Gaza, the people there always find ways to cope and thrive. Pictured is a water fight at an open day event at the Rosary Sisters School where the principal Sr. Nabila Saleh was soaked by her students. Great to see smiles and joy…
 
 
 
 
The third day in Gaza started with shelling of a location a few hundred meters from where we are staying. Not easy to wake up at 1:09 a.m on the sound of blasts that shook the building. Thank God it stopped there. The rest of the morning was spent visiting locations and homes damaged during the war. Very painful sights of destruction. The Latin Patriarchate with generous funding from Friends of the Holy Land in the U.K. will be fixing damages at 32 such homes through our team in Gaza… this madness must stop as the greater damage is to the souls who are traumatized rather than the physical destruction!
 

Despite a rough beginning this morning and a sad day in Gaza surveying destruction; the afternoon witnessed a most joyful celebration at the Holy Family Church at Zeitoun whereby three children were confirmed; nineteen had the first communion and one child was baptized. His Beatitude commented that these are signs of a parish that is alive despite the small numbers and there is certainly hope.

Congratulations to all.